Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 83

A song. A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ Keep not silence, O God; hold not Your peace or be still, O God.

² For, behold, Your enemies are in tumult, and those who hate You have raised their heads.^(A)

³ They lay crafty schemes against Your people and consult together against Your hidden and precious ones.

⁴ They have said, Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be in remembrance no more.

¹³ O my God, make them like whirling dust, like stubble or chaff before the wind!

¹⁴ As fire consumes the forest, and as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,

¹⁵ So pursue and afflict them with Your tempest and terrify them with Your tornado or hurricane.

¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek, inquire for, and insistently require Your name, O Lord.

¹⁷ Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; yes, let them be put to shame and perish,

¹⁸ That they may know that You, Whose name alone is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hard and stubborn; he refuses to let the people go.

¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning; he will be going out to the water; wait for him by the river’s brink; and the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand.

¹⁶ And say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness; and behold, heretofore you have not listened.

¹⁷ Thus says the Lord, In this you shall know, recognize, and understand that I am the Lord: behold, I will smite with the rod in my hand the waters in the [Nile] River, and they shall be turned to blood.

¹⁸ The fish in the river shall die, the river shall become foul smelling, and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink from it.

¹⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, rivers, pools, and ponds of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, in containers both of wood and of stone.

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded; [Aaron] lifted up the rod and smote the waters in the river in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the waters in the river were turned to blood.

²¹ And the fish in the river died; and the river became foul smelling, and the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

²² But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their enchantments and secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was made hard and obstinate, and he did not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

²³ And Pharaoh turned and went into his house; neither did he take even this to heart.

²⁴ And all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the [Nile].

²⁵ Seven days passed after the Lord had smitten the river.

²² Then a blind and dumb man under the power of a demon was brought to Jesus, and He cured him, so that the blind and dumb man both spoke and saw.

²³ And all the [crowds of] people were stunned with bewildered wonder and said, This cannot be the Son of David, can it?

²⁴ But the Pharisees, hearing it, said, This ^[a]Man drives out demons only by and with the help of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.

²⁵ And knowing their thoughts, He said to them, Any kingdom that is divided against itself is being brought to desolation and laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will last or continue to stand.

²⁶ And if Satan drives out Satan, he has become divided against himself and disunified; how then will his kingdom last or continue to stand?

²⁷ And if I drive out the demons by [help of] Beelzebub, by whose [help] do your sons drive them out? ^[b]For this reason they shall be your judges.

²⁸ But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you [^[c]before you expected it].

²⁹ Or how can a person go into a strong man’s house and carry off his goods (the entire equipment of his house) without first binding the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

³⁰ He who is not with Me [definitely ^[d]on My side] is against Me, and he who does not [definitely] gather with Me and for ^[e]My side scatters.

³¹ Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy (every evil, abusive, ^[f]injurious speaking, or indignity against sacred things) can be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the [Holy] Spirit shall not and ^[g]cannot be forgiven.

³² And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Spirit, the Holy One, will not be forgiven, either in this world and age or in the world and age to come.